The Great Battle () is a 2018 South Korean historical epic action film directed by Kim Kwang-sik. It stars Zo In-sung, Nam Joo-hyuk, and Park Sung-woong. The film was released in South Korea on September 19, 2018.
Premise
The Great Battle is an historical film about the [Siege of Ansi|siege]] of Ansi Fortress and the epic eighty-eight day battle that Yang Manchun and his Goguryeo troops fought against 500,000 invading Tang dynasty men to defend it.
Cast
Main
Zo In-sung as Yang Manchun
Nam Joo-hyuk as Sa-mul
Park Sung-woong as Li Shimin
Supporting
Bae Seong-woo as Choo Soo-ji
Uhm Tae-goo as Pa-so
Kim Seol-hyun as Baek-ha
Oh Dae-hwan as Hwal-bo
Park Byung-eun as Poong
Jung Eun-chae as Si-mi
Yu Oh-seong as Yeon Gaesomun
Sung Dong-il as Woo-dae
Jang Gwang
Yeo Hoe-hyun as Ma-ro
Special appearance
Stephanie Lee as Dal-rae
Production
On , filming began, finishing on 24 January 2018.
The filming set featured a replica of the Ansi Fortress that was high and long.
Release
The film premiered in South Korea on September 19, 2018, with age 12-rating. The film was released alongside Fengshui, The Negotiation, and The Nun, considered the most competitive week on Korean Box Office this year.
The film was released in North America on September 21, 2018. As of September 21, the film had been sold to over 32 countries, with release date in United Kingdom, Vietnam, Australia, New Zealand, Taiwan, and Singapore set in October 2018.
It was released on V.O.D on October 24, 2018.
Reception
Critical response
The film received mostly positive reviews from critics. Praise was given to its cinematography, Kim's directing, the action sequences and acting performances. However, there were criticisms regarding the portrayal of Yang Man-chun and the historical accuracy of the film.
Yoon Min-sik from The Korea Herald wrote, "Director Kim did a clever job of masking his actors' weak points and making the most of their strengths in this action-packed flick. Jo's voice still seems out of place in a period piece, but his character refrains from making any more big speeches, taking action instead. It is very unlikely that Yang Man-chun was in his mid-30s, or that there was a squad of beautiful women shooting blowguns, or a group of borderline super-soldiers fighting without their helmets, but this movie throws historical accuracy out the window and the result is a lot of fun."
Shim Sun-ah from Yonhap News Agency wrote, "Visually striking, imaginative and compelling, The Great Battle easily claims its status as one of the most impressive war epics to have come out of Korean cinema in a long time. Since little is known about the battle and Yang Man-chun, making a tentpole based on long-forgotten ancient history with a relatively untested director was a massive gamble and could have gone horribly wrong. However, he combined his energetic style with spectacular slow-motion sequences depicting every detail of the battle's ferocious brutality and the fear of the outnumbered Goguryo soldiers as they see the swarming Tang invaders."
Cary Darling from the Houston Chronicle wrote, "Director Kim Kwang-shik has a surprisingly keen eye for wide-screen, CGI-embellished action choreography that is often wildly impressive... The Great Battle rings with the echoes of such sweeping, cinematic blitzkriegs as the Battle of Helm's Deep in Peter Jackson's The Lord of the Rings: The Two Towers or any number of Game of Thrones assaults."
Richard Yu from Cinema Escapist wrote, "while The Great Battle excels at action-packed scenes and a fast-moving storyline, the screenwriting falls short. A mysterious oracle who happens to be Yang's former love interest makes an appearance, but adds little to the story before she is quickly killed off. And much to our dismay, Baek-ha never gets to fully develop her relationship with her dashing cavalry officer before he dies in combat. While this may be due to the limited running time of 136 minutes, director Kim Kwang-sik could have taken a page from John Woo's Red Cliff and split the film into two parts to give the ensemble cast ample time to develop their characters."
Box office
The film grossed from previews and pre-sales.